Edward W. Ludwig 17 min read

Tick-de-tock, 'Daddy's coming,' the old clock seems to say, as eight-year-old Ronnie trembles alone in his bedroom in the year 2056, dreading the savage tongues and angry eyes below.

Edward W. Ludwig's 1955 story builds a chilling dystopian tale from a frightened child in a strange future family. Sharp, unsettling golden-age SF. Read it for a story whose small, terrified boy slowly reveals a disturbing truth about the world of 2056.

In its time

Published in 1955, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

17 min read (a short story, a single idea, delivered and gone).

Illustrated by

Ed Emshwiller